How To
Copy to Ram
If you want SLAMPP to load and run faster and have at least 300 MB of
RAM you can use the copy2ram command. As SLAMPP boots, when it says
boot: type: 'slampp copy2ram'.
It will take a minute or two to copy the whole disc to run but once
this is done, SLAMPP will run much faster. Also, if you only have one
disc drive on your computer and wish to insert another CD/DVD in SLAMPP
you can use 'slampp copy2ram' which will copy the disc to RAM and then automatically eject the disc to free up your drive. This is a very handy tool.
Boot SLAMPP from your hard drive (installing SLAMPP)
If you want to install SLAMPP on your hard drive, make sure you have a
Linux partition which is free. Then go to your Xfce desktop. Select the
"HD Installation" program. Make sure you select the right hard drive
partition, you probably don't want to install SLAMPP over another
operating system you have. It installs LILO with it, which means that
the install could make Windows, (or other operating systems installed
on the drive) unbootable. So you should only do this if you know how to
use and edit LILO.
Use and create a swap partition
If your hard drive already contains a Linux swap partition, SLAMPP will
automatically detect it and use it. However, if you don't want to mess
around with your drive and create a swap partition, you can create a
swap file.
However, if you have another partition, here's how to make a swap file.
Type 'fileswap /mnt/hda1/swap.swp 200' for example to make a swap file
on the first partition of your first hard drive. The '200' tells it to
make a 200MB swap partition. The swap file will not be deleted on a
reboot. The fileswap command must be used for each time you boot Slax
though. The swap file won't be auto detected.
Note: DO NOT use the fileswap command more than once per boot. Doing so can create major problems.
Use Webmin to manage servers and daemons
If you are not that familiar using command line to manage all servers
and daemons on SLAMPP, you can administer them through a web browser.
Just open the web browser and then type 'https://localhost:10000/'. Then enter 'root' as username and 'slampp' for password.
Web development and design
SLAMPP is equipped with tools and applications that support the web
development and design processes. At this moment it supports PHP 4,
Perl and Python and uses MySQL as database backend. Not to be
forgotten, it also includes web server Apache with various mods and
plugins that makes your work a little bit easier. Text and WYSIWYG
editors like Bluefish, Nvu, and TEA are available to help you writing
the scripts or to code. Special treatment for web designers, SLAMPP has some
tools that can not be missed like The GIMP, Blender and Inkscape.
Shortcuts to all of these applications can easily be found on your
dekstop menu.
Getting your files on the CD
Do you have websites or other web applications you would like to show
to others? Or do you just want to have a good working backup of them on
the CD? Then you come to the right solution. SLAMPP helps web masters,
developers and designers in promoting their work and makes their
clients impressed with that.
Just read the following instructions found on LAMPPIX website to start with this feature. (Note: replace folder 'www' with 'html'.)
http://lamppix.tinowagner.com/wiki/index.php?GettingYourFilesOnTheCD
After that, on console type the following command:
sh /etc/webinstall.sh
All files and database on the CD will be recognized and inserted automatically.
Then open the web browser and if anything goes well, your website or
web application will be displayed right away.
Multimedia
Although SLAMPP is meant for simplying your work to setup a home
server, it doesn't mean that it will ignore your multimedia pleasure.
Some small multimedia programs have been included on SLAMPP.
Unfortunately some programs have no graphical interfaces, thus they
must be run on console.
Burn a CD
Go to start menu, select 'BashBurn' on Utilities menu.
Play music
Open a console and then type 'mpg123' or 'amp' to play music. Of course, don't forget to add the file you want to listen to. Or you can also use Beep Media Player which has graphical interface to play your music. See 'Multimedia' menu.
Play movies
SLAMPP also provides a movie player which can play various types of video. Go to start menu and select "VLC Media Player' on Multimedia menu.
Productivity
Having known that sometimes we need to write a document or utilizing
spreadsheet to calculate something or read PDF documents on the net,
some office programs are installed and can be found on "Office" menu.
Use a module
One of the greatest features of Slax that powers up SLAMPP is the fact
that it is modular. That means if it doesn't have something you want,
you can easily add it. These additions are called modules. A module is
a something you can create or download which has a .mo extension. For
example, you can add OpenOffice.org or a variety of games which weren't
included in SLAMPP for size reasons. There are two ways to use a module:
Edit Iso
A great guy named Martijn Starrenburg created MySLAX Creator. Download it at http://myslax.bonsonno.org
It allows you to modify your Slax/SLAMPP CD in Windows with a
wizard-based approach so you can insert and remove modules from the
.iso. It is very simple and guides you through all the steps.
Uselivemod
To use a module without burning a new CD, use this command. Uselivemod
command expects one argument: a full path to the image file you wish to
insert to live file system. It doesn't mater where the module is, you
can download it while running SLAX/SLAMPP to /root (root's home
directory), /mnt/disc0part1 (primary partition of your first hard
drive), etc.
Now, to load the module, open a console, (click the black icon on Xfce
panel) and type uselivemod /root/modname.mo or uselivemod
/mnt/hda1/modulename.mo. If all goes well, the computer will pause for
a second and display no error. To use the program, check the
start menu. If it's not in here, go to the console and use a command to
start it (for example, Firefox module is started by executing
/usr/share/Firefox/Firefox command). If you don't know the command you
should use, explore the content of /mnt/livecd/imgro/modulename.mo.
It's a directory which shows only files from your module.
Make modules
Making modules is really quite easy. However, it can take up some of
your valuable time. Sometimes, if you're lucky, there will already be a
Slackware package for the program you want. (Slackware packages end in
.tgz) If you find the one you want, download it, and use the command
tgz2mo /directory/file.tgz /directory/file.mo You now have an module
that can be used with the uselivemod command, or by inserting the
module into the .iso. To use the tgz2mo command takes even a slow typer
under 2 minutes.
Sometimes, however, you won't be so lucky. There are not Slackware
packages for every program out there. For this, you must compile the
program first and install it. This can't be done from within the
ordinary Slax/SLAMPP. You need a standard distro installed to the hard
drive (like Slackware, Mandrake, or Red Hat). Then, make a folder with
the name of the module. In here, you will place an exact replication of
the files and folders created by the program. For example, in
Slax/SLAMPP, check /var/log/packages, and select a file from the list.
Open it with TEA or whatever. All the files and directories listed
there would need to be copied to the new folder. It may take a really
long time, but it's still pretty easy. Now, once you have everything in
there, type dir2mo /root/directory/ /root/file.mo You now have a
module. This could take a couple hours. (Or a few minutes if your
dealing with a small program with few files.)
If you wish to convert an old Slax module with a *.img extension, use the img2mo command.
If you make a good working module, which you think others might benefit
from (they probably will) please upload it to the modules section on
the Slax/SLAMPP website.
Emulation
Use Qemu
Qemu is included in SLAMPP. It allows you to run other operating
systems while running SLAMPP. To use it, open a console and type "qemu
-m 128 -cdrom /mnt/disc0part1/slampp.iso -boot d -user-net" to start
the ISO file. Of course, you need to have the ISO downloaded and called
slampp.iso and on the first partition of your primary drive for this
particular command to work.
Save and restore configuration/settings
To save your settings, run "configsave" command
with one argument - the storage location. So type for example configsave /mnt/sda1/slamppconf.mo
to save your configs in USB flash drive. It will save all changed files
from /root, /etc, /home and /var directories.
Then use "configrestore" command to restore your backup. You can also
save settings to the root directory of your existing disk partition (for
example to /mnt/hda1/slamppconf.mo). All settings found in the
root folder of any of your disk partitions ( under the name slaxconf.mo) will be restored
automatically when SLAMPP boots.
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